Write-ins liven ho-hum races

Some legislative candidates need only their own vote to qualify for November

SACRAMENTO  Not since Donna Frye lost her write-in bid for mayor of San Diego nearly 10 years ago has there been so much intrigue over what could happen when voters hand-scribble the name of a preferred challenger.

A quirk in election law — coupled with the state’s top-two primary system — will permit a certified write-in candidate to advance to the November election even if he or she receives just one vote. Importantly, once that happens, the write-in candidate’s name will be printed on the November ballot along with their stated party preference for voters to see.

As a result, a handful of local state legislators on Tuesday who do not have a challenger next to their name will have one five months from now.

None of the write-ins are expected to pose a serious threat to the incumbents, however.

Political analyst Scott Lay of Davis explained in his political newsletter Nooner that previous write-in candidates had to receive at least 1 percent of the votes cast for that office in the most recent election. That worked out to about 1,500 votes on average.

But with the top-two system sending the pair with the most votes on to November, the minimum vote requirement is no longer in effect. That’s drawing more interest from write-in candidates, Lay reported, from 12 statewide in 2010 to 43 this year.

Six of those are in San Diego area races, some of whom have only one candidate printed on the official ballot.

So as long as he writes-in his own name, Thomas Krouse of Carlsbad will advance to November to challenge fellow Republican Assemblyman Rocky Chávez of Oceanside.

Assemblywoman Marie Waldron, R-Escondido, will go against either Democrat Nicholas Shestople of Temecula or Libertarian Mike Paster of Fallbrook. Former Assemblywoman Pat Bates, a Republican from Laguna Niguel, will have a state Senate challenger from Democrat Gary Kephart of Ladera Ranch. And Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, will now likely have a November challenger in George Williams, an American Independent running as a write in.

Two other write-in candidates have the potential to cause some mischief in three-way races.

Republican Michael Diaz wants to give GOP voters a choice by writing his name in for the Senate seat held by Ben Hueso, D-San Diego. Hueso is being challenged by another Democrat, Rafael Estrada. But if enough Republicans hand write Diaz on their ballots he could conceivably be the second-place finisher and move on instead of Estrada, even though his name appears on the ballot.

A similar case is playing out in the 71st Assembly District. Write-in candidate Howard Katz of Temecula is running as a Democrat for the Assembly seat now held by incumbent Republican Brian Jones of Santee. Tony Teora, another Republican, is also on the ballot. If enough Democrats write-in Katz, he could be on the ballot in November instead of Teora.

For the record, Frye received the most votes in November 2004 in a runoff between Dick Murphy and Ron Roberts. Yet, in a controversial decision, a large number of her votes were invalidated due to her name being misspelled and a bubble not being filled in correctly.

The San Diego County sample ballot lists a spot to write in a candidate, but there is also an accompanying bubble voters must fill in to ensure their vote counts.